Agenda item

The Committee were requested to view the Corporate Risk Register and Appendix 2. The Performance and Research Business Partner explained that the purpose of the risk register was to manage risk and to evidence that processes were in place to manage those risks.

Main points to consider:

·        At the end of Quarter 4 there were 14 corporate risks registered made up of 5 high risks, 8 medium risks and 1 low risk. 

·        The ‘Legislation’ risk decreased from 16 to 12 in the last quarter which reflected the work that was undertaken with the Well Being for Future Generations Act.

·        The Brexit risk was decreased in the previous Quarter from 16 to 12 which reflected the postponement of Brexit from March to October 2019 with the threat of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit from the EU. The Brexit Risk would continue to be closely monitored and the Council would liaise with Welsh Government to monitor any changes.

·        Risk 5 (In Year Financial Management) - This risk decreased from 8 to 4 in the last quarter which reported an overall underspend in the Council’s budget. This risk will need to be monitored and re-evaluated due to ongoing pressures on Council services for 2019/2020

Questions

A Member of the Committee referred to page 14 of the Corporate Risk Report and questioned the term ‘corporate risks’ and what it meant when risks were escalated to a corporate level? It was confirmed that risks were escalated to service level management and the Senior leadership team.

A question was asked in relation to a ‘no-deal’ scenario in relation to Brexit, as the scoring of the Brexit risk had come down, did this mean that the Council was supporting a no-deal Brexit? It was confirmed that the risk had been reduced since the 29^th March 2019 as there had been lots of preparation, working with counterparts etc. Should there be a no deal scenario again, preparation would come into place straight away. The Chair commented that good work had been put in place and it was unsure as to whether the Brexit risk would go up or down in October.

The task group would continue to monitor and adjust the risk accordingly and whatever decision the Government made, could be managed over a long period of time.  This tied in with the Annual Governance Statement.

Another Member questioned as to whether a risk could affect the Council that we do not already know about, considering the current global and political situation.

The Performance and Research Business Partner confirmed that this could not be predicted. It was commented that a risk review was compiled every year. The Corporate Risk review considered the service plan and service areas to look at the risk landscape. What were the possible risks now and in 10 years? For example what would be the impact of climate change on the city of Newport in another 20-30 years and how would that risk affect Newport Council’s ability to deliver its services. Assessing risk meant identifying current and future risks.

A Member commented that a lot of organisations were not working together and this could be a nightmare and were there mechanisms in place for us to manage this? It was explained that the risk process was there to identify any risk that emerged and to manage the risk, it was monitored constantly. 

Another Member had a question regarding Programme/Project risk Management and how it was managed. It was confirmed that this involved a work partnership between Torfaen Council, Gwent Police and in the longer term the Gwent Futures, Local Resilience forum.

The Chief Internal Auditor confirmed that anything that needed to be on the risk register was fed through service plans. Issues that were identifiable in Audit were then brought to management.